(A/N: Well would you look at that, I'm back again with more of this lovely little story for you folks. I don't think there is much to say beforehand so without further stalling for thought, let's get on with the show!)
A Cold Sleep
Part 30
After breakfast Tom gave Harry a kiss and headed off to the main Ball Room where most Death Eater meetings took place. It would take him several hours just to transform it into the typical Throne Room that he preferred, so he wanted to get an early start of it. Harry, for one, was glad that he had only been obliged to attend one such meeting thus far, he wasn't one for crowds of people, and despite what people thought, and he wasn't very good at being the center of attention.
No, for Harry the destination was his room and his desk, where he would figure out what to say in a letter to his cousin Dudley. In his head he wasn't coming up with very many ideas, they hadn't ever had much to talk about, and dropping a bombshell on him like his being a Wizard was probably not the best lead off.
But halfway to his room, he was brought up short as pieces clicked into place and a thought occurred to him.
Smeltings. Dudley's boarding school. Certainly he should have been having outbursts of magic when he was away from the Wards at home. Unless something had been done to the school as well, which in itself was a horrifying thought.
Harry promptly pivoted on his toe and headed back towards the Work Rooms where his Uncles would be brewing potions and discussing the morning paper by then. He needed to discuss it with them before he sent a letter off to Dudley. It wouldn't do to give him more questions than answers.
He made it to the Work Room that had been converted into a Potions Lab in a hurry, though he didn't run for fear of tripping over his own feet and making a fool of himself. His Uncles were inside, all three of them talking and laughing while Severus and Remus prepared ingredients. Harry waited for them to be done handling the knives before knocking softly on the doorjamb.
"Hey guys, there's something we need to talk about real quick," Harry said with more confidence than he felt as all three of them swiveled their heads to see what had disturbed them.
"Of course Harry, come on in," Severus said gently, his face obviously full of concern.
"What's on your mind kiddo?" Sirius asked and hopped up to sit on one of the tables in the room, inviting Harry to come and take a seat beside him. Harry accepted the invitation, despite the presence of several chairs.
"Well, I'm about to write this letter to Dudley, but I realized something. He went to a boarding school during the year; he was only at home during the summers, like I was. So if he's showing magic now, shouldn't he have been showing it when he was at school too? Do you think it is possible for there to be Wards around the school preventing him from showing his magic, or is it somehow possible that his magic was so latent that it only emerged now?" Harry said and worried that he was dumping too much on them all at once but not wanting to forget anything at the same time.
"Oh dear, that's a very glaring problem," Remus said delicately and leaned back against the workstation that he was occupying.
"I don't put it past Dumbledore to have Wards around an entire school. Think about it; think about how few Muggle born students Hogwarts has been receiving in the past few decades. Who was in charge of tracking down Muggle born kids for the longest time?" Severus said grimly and Harry felt his heart leap into his throat. Of course, Dumbledore had access to the Book of Names, if he was able to strike Dudley from the record, how many others had he done the same thing to?
"But then wouldn't there be kids growing into adults and starting lives, he couldn't possibly keep track of them all, could he?" Harry whispered as his horror grew at the idea of what Dumbledore might have done to children that he deemed unworthy of joining the Magical world.
"He wouldn't have to. Just bind their magic after graduation. Binding spells are very illegal unless the Ministry is using them to punish a criminal, and Dumbledore would have worked closely enough with the Ministry to have knowledge of those spells," Sirius said in an almost casual tone of voice. It wasn't until he had three sets of eyes looking at him in pure terror that he realized just what it was that he had suggested.
"Are Binding spells able to be undone?" Harry asked with a shaking voice.
"Well yes, in theory, but it would be difficult to track down the people that they were used on as they appear to be Muggles for the most part. The only thing you can't prevent is an owl being able to deliver mail to them," Sirius said and Harry desperately wanted to ask the man just how he knew such things, but figured that it was a question for a different day.
"You wouldn't need to go that far. Dumbledore kept meticulous records of everything that he did, journals, notes, memories. He left in such a hurry that I doubt any of that would have been destroyed or taken with him. Someone will need to go to Hogwarts and get into his office to find the evidence that we need of him doing this," Severus informed.
"You think that he will have kept the names of dozens of his victims around?" Remus questioned delicately.
"Of course he would, he has to be sure that the spells hold up, doesn't he? Can't have the Ministry discovering random adults with magical outbursts," Sirius said dismissively.
"But Dudley hasn't been bound yet?" Harry asked, already wondering if he needed to go to the Library to discover whether or not they could undo a Binding spell.
"No, not if Hermione's spell showed his letter as being written by a Wizard. But, oh dear, I've just had a realization. With Dumbledore out of the picture, there will be no one to power those spells. It will be bedlam at the Ministry," Severus said and Harry's eyes went wide. He knew that fighting Dumbledore alongside Tom meant killing the older Wizard, after all it was in the prophecy that he kill the Dark Lord, but he wasn't prepared for the ripples that it would cause.
"There will be accidental magic everywhere unless we manage to track down everyone affected before he dies," Remus whispered and then swore very quietly several times.
"I need to talk to Tom. Now. The Ministry needs to know and Tom and Lucius are the only ones who can get the ball rolling on something like ransacking the Headmaster's office at Hogwarts," Harry said and hopped off of the table, his feet catching him and barely even wobbling.
"We'll go with you. I think this is a matter that calls for all hands on deck," Sirius said and the other two nodded their agreement.
(A/N: Well there you have it; I hope that you enjoyed this little chapter. If you enjoyed it, or if you just want to say hi, a comment or a review would make me very happy. As always thanks for reading and I hope to see you next time!)
